Question about a crop impaction

[Ryguy3684]

A week ago, I watched one of my hens slurp down a foot long garter snake. I've seen them eat smaller snakes, just fine, but never one this large. Well, her crop is impacted with what I assume is a snake. I've gone through the normal crop clearing techniques, with no success, obviously. Is there any chance of it clearing on its own at this point?
I've done crop surgery before, so I don't mind doing it again. I just didn't want to jump the gun if it could clear after a week.
She's eating, drinking, and acting normal, BTW.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Let's get @azygous to chime in here.

Unless a flush might help, surgery may be the best option.

Poor Hen! Yes, I'm sure my free roamers eat who knows what, but a hateful Garter Snake is just sort of gross. I'm not a fan of Garter snakes

 

[azygous]

That is just too much for a Sunday morning. Gads! That's a lot of @#$%^&* snake!

It is, after all, just meat and bone. The meat should get stripped from the bones and go down okay, but the bones may end up being the problem.

The fact she's behaving normally is a very good sign that she hasn't bitten off more than she can chew, so to speak. I would give her access to grit, and lots of it. Also, I would give her raw egg. It's slimy and can help smooth the way for all those bones to travel down her digestive tract. Give her raw egg twice a day for the next three days.

If she's going to get into trouble from this, you will feel her crop become over full and very hard. She will likely behave as if she feels awful. (And no wonder.) Then we may need to assess whether surgery is going to be required to save her from her folly.

 

[Ryguy3684]

That is just too much for a Sunday morning. Gads! That's a lot of @#$%^&* snake!

It is, after all, just meat and bone. The meat should get stripped from the bones and go down okay, but the bones may end up being the problem.

The fact she's behaving normally is a very good sign that she hasn't bitten off more than she can chew, so to speak. I would give her access to grit, and lots of it. Also, I would give her raw egg. It's slimy and can help smooth the way for all those bones to travel down her digestive tract. Give her raw egg twice a day for the next three days.

If she's going to get into trouble from this, you will feel her crop become over full and very hard. She will likely behave as if she feels awful. (And no wonder.) Then we may need to assess whether surgery is going to be required to save her from her folly.

Thanks. Her crop is jammed full by the end of the day, and goes down about half way each night, leaving just the snake in there, so she's digesting her regular food. I wasn't sure if the snake would rot in there and cause some type of illness that way, since it's been a week already. Her stool is also pretty funky the last couple days. Dark and watery.
She's been eating plenty of grit and we've already been doing the raw egg for a couple days. We've also done the fluid fill and massage for several days.

 

[azygous]

Actually, if the snake were to begin to putrify, it would soften it and make it easier to get it transported through her digestive tract. But you would smell it if it was rotting. It still probably wouldn't be a problem.

Are you familiar with roadrunner birds of the southwest? They are sort of the size of a skinny chicken and they eat rattlesnakes, swallowing them whole. They are famous for this. None seem to have a problem with crop impaction.

I would continue to provide plenty of water, the raw egg and grit, and trust that your chicken, who is the product of a hundred million years of successful evolution will eventually digest this monster.

 

[Ryguy3684]

Actually, if the snake were to begin to putrify, it would soften it and make it easier to get it transported through her digestive tract. But you would smell it if it was rotting. It still probably wouldn't be a problem.

Are you familiar with roadrunner birds of the southwest? They are sort of the size of a skinny chicken and they eat rattlesnakes, swallowing them whole. They are famous for this. None seem to have a problem with crop impaction.

I would continue to provide plenty of water, the raw egg and grit, and trust that your chicken, who is the product of a hundred million years of successful evolution will eventually digest this monster.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give her some more time and see what she can do. Since she's still acting healthy and happy.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hopefully it will pass on through.
I'm following to see how it goes, so please keep us posted.

 

[azygous]

Her behavior is an indication that, so far anyway, this isn't a problem for her. And it isn't very likely to be.

Chickens are related to snakes somewhat, both designs and engineering having been perfected over eons. Compared to humans on the evolutionary scale, it a non contest. Compared to a hundred million years for chickens, humans have only been around for a few million years, and way less than that in our present form. We have a lot of room for improvement.

Getting back to snakes, they swallow prey whole. A rattlesnake can swallow a baby rabbit. It takes up to a week to digest, but they get 'er done. It's powerful digestive enzymes that do most of the work. Chickens also have digestive enzymes that dissolve hard things like bones. Put a small chicken bone in a jar of vinegar and watch what happens to it over time.

The acid in a chicken's proventriculous, the next stop after the crop, is the same as in vinegar, will dissolve the bones of a snake, then the remains hits the gizzard to get ground up more thoroughly. This all takes time. That your chicken is happy and content with her banquet still digesting is indication all is well.

Here is a great article on how chickens digest the stuff they manage to swallow. https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-digestive-system/

 

[Ryguy3684]

Update in case anyone ever needs this thread.
It's been almost 2 weeks. She's never acted sick, and is still eating normally. I've been syringe feeding 10 ml of water and massaging her crop twice a day. I wanted to make sure new food/grass wouldn't cause a true impaction. It was making very little progress until 2 days ago. Yesterday, I felt what I think were bones. This morning, the mass was a little smaller than a golf ball. Everything is looking good.

Thanks @azygous & @Wyorp Rock for telling me to hold on the crop surgery. I'm comfortable doing it, but prefer not to put the bird through it unless absolutely necessary.

I'll post again when the mass is gone, and she's back to normal.

 

[azygous]

Cheers for good progress! Cheers for you for hanging in there.